The story begins with Woodroe Raynor heading to Austria as a Mormon missionary. {Plot spoiler warning!} Woodroe is stationed near the border with Hungary and soon is making forays, across an unwatched bridge, into the communist country. This is 1956, a period when Hungary is struggling with the confinement and tyranny of a communist dictatorship. The students are pushing a revolution and the politicians are struggling to "liberalize" the country without pushing their Soviet masters to far. Woodroe meets up with a young and beautiful Hungarian caught up in the revolution and falls head over heels in love. Those familiar with history will know that the ending is tragic. The Soviets smash the revolution with tanks and Woodroe's first love turns out to have been working for the Russians. For his trouble Woodroe gets shot in the hip while trying to help Hungarians escape into Austria. On the bright side, he gets to meet Richard Nixon. From this exciting beginning, Woodroe goes onto Princeton and soon into a job with the fledgling John Birch Society; committed to fighting communism wherever he can.

His female counter part, Lenora, is the daughter of Polish immigrants who fled Europe as Hitler began WW II. Lenora's father was killed in a union battle in New York as West Coast communists sought to gain control during the Nazi-Communist pact. She too dedicated her life to the battle against communism. But instead of Robert Welch and the Birch Society, Lenora's path led to Ayn Rand and Objectivism. Soon Lenora is in the inner circle of Objectivism, working part time for the Nathaniel Branden Institute (named after Nathaniel Branden Rand's closest associate and intellectual heir apparent).

Woodroe and Lenora's anti-communist activism leads them both to the Young Americans for Freedom - an anti-communist youth organization founded in WFB's house in Sharon, Connecticut. Having met through YAF, the two develop a relationship and soon fall in love. Their lives and relationship provide the backdrop as Buckley describes the development of American conservatism. Through their lives we are shown the activities of Robert Welch and Ayn Rand but also a host of other historical figures including Barry Goldwater, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight Eisenhower. Also included are a number of figures integral to the growth of the conservative movement, figures like Russell Kirk, William J. Baroody, Marvin Lieberman, and of course WFB himself. As in his other historical novels, Buckley weaves in historical events and personalities to give the story an authentic feel but also to point out pivotal events and ideas. These vignettes are interesting and provide clues to Buckley's perspective but the real focus remains on Welch and Rand.